Sandwich machine for applying coatings to bakery goods



H. P. CURLEEv May 19, 1953 SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS T0 BAKERY GOODS Filed March 2, 1948 7 Sheets-Sheet l I Harvey]? Cur/ea 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. P. CURLEE SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS TO BAKERY GOODS e w c P m H 5 N 9 NN WN NW VN NQ NN g May 19, 1953 Filed March 2, 194a Ea/ley, Jlephens, C Huehiy May 19, 1953 H. P. CURLEE 2,638,868

SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS TO BAKERY GOODS Filed March 2, 1948 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Harvey .7? Cur/ea M y 19, 1953 H. P. cU'iLEE 2,638,868

SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS T0 BAKERY GOODS Filed March 2, 1948 a 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 awe/WM Harvey J? Carlee 5 Fig.6

May 19, 1953 H. P. URLEE 2,638,868

SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING commas TO BAKERY GOODS Filed March 2, 194B 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Elma/Mm 1 79 9 Earuey P Cur/ea May 19, 1953 H. P. CURLEE 8, 6

SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS TO BAKERY GOODS Filed March 2, 194a 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 v I H 3 Harvey P Carlee 1 52 h HueH Ba: ey, ep ens 1 M May 19, 1953 H. P. CURLEE 2,633,368

SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING COATINGS T0 BAKERY GOODS 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed March 2, 1948 F'ig- 15 Fi .5 Fi 19 Harvey P. Carlee Bailey, fiiepbens 6 HueHzg Patented May 19, 1953 SANDWICH MACHINE FOR APPLYING co r Nes To BAKERY GOODS Harvey G id R h. N- r ist r to Curlee Machinery (lompany, Inc., a corporation of North Carolina Application March 2, 1948, Serial No. 12,661

4 Cl ims 1 This invention is directed to the construction of a machine for coating articles. In particular, it relates to a machine for putting coatings of icing on cookies or crackers, or for putting filling materials ,on crackers to make sandwiches. These machines are usually termed sandwich machines,

Sandwich machines are employed in food plants for the purpose of automatically applying filling material in between two layers of cracker or cake material, or for depositing icing or some similar confection upon the top of a cookie or a cake. In order to be economical, these machines must Operate with a greater volume of output than could be obtained by a comparative number of persons doing the same job manually. the same time, the speeds of the machines are limited by the rapidity with which they can handle deli.- cate materials such as cakes or crackers Without breaking the same. Another limiting factor is the speed at which the sandwich or icing material can be placed upon the cakes or crackers as they are moved past a depositing device, for if the deposited material is not accurately spotted upon the cakes or crackers, the product emitted from the machine may be sospoiled inappearance as to be unusable.

The prior art efforts to overcome these difliculties were largely directed to the use of stencils which cooperated with a conveyor holding the cakes or crackers so as to bring the stencil over a cracker in timed relation with respect to a superimposed hopper, the covering material bes de osited through the st n onto the ca r'cra ker- W he stencil was disp sed with. it has h et i b en o sible on y" to de sit a re atively lar fi ing p n a pan fi d so idly with cake as it passes'beneath. the hopper. W here 1 la g obj cts a e b i t eat d. it s n s e sa y to x c s the fin con o which to be maintained in the treatment of relatively small cakes or crackers, such as in ir mg the familiar peanut butter cracker sandwlc It is an object of this invention to construct amachine in which .cakesor crackers are handled n such a way that they are not subject to break? age xpe enc d i r o a t machi e iA o er bject of th invention is to pr duce a icing r andwich-mak n machine n W t? the cakes or crackers are moved in timed relation with respect to feeding mechanisms. v

A further Object of the invei-ltion is to con:- struct a sandwich or icing machine, upon which ak or c acker a depo ted up n a qnve or without breakage.

Anoth r bject oi the inv nt on i o produce ing a magazine feed of articles upon a conveyor and a depositor for placing covering materials on the a ticles ith a sy ch on zed intermittent timing of the parts so that .the materials are quic ly and c e n han -l d in the machi fi' In general, these objects of the invention are obtained by constructin :a machine which has a conveyor belt passing beneath at least one magazine, and a hopper containing the material to be deposited upon articles carried from the magazine. Suitable drives are provided for intermittently moving the conveyor, and during such intermittent movements operating the machine to deposit crackers upon the belt. At the same .tirna this gearing intermittently operates a Iced pump and a cut-off device so that as the articles are carried beneath the hopper, a piece of coating material is extruded from the hopper and cut of be clean 'a d ecur e ed up the article on the conveyor, If desired, the arti- .6 can h n. be conve ed beneat a se o os zine hiQh DQ$ a 0 J1 19 O $1 8 coating material to form a sandwich. The machine is arranged to take relatively small fiat o i vt in the na ur of mall Wafer o c ac r with adjustments so that it can handle such wafers 0. (;ra.cker s of either small or large size. By reason of the intermittently controlled synchronized movement of the parts, it is not neccs sary to use stencils to insure the proper placement of the materials upon the articles carried by the conveyor. The machine, therefore, is of comparatively simple construction.

means by which the objects of the inventi -1 are o a ned. are more u y de c ib i eference to the ac ompany-ins d a i s i which:

Fig. 1 is a side .elevationa-l View of a machine constructed according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the left half of Fig. 1;

Fig.4: is a plan-view of the right half of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of Fig. 1 as seen from the left;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of the right side of Fig. 1;

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view on the line l--l of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a detail of the article feeding magazine;

Fig. 9 is a side elevational view of an enlarged detail of the material depositing mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged detailed cross-sectional view of the material feed pump shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view on the line I3-I3 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a gear used in the feed pump;

Fig. 15 is a side view of Fig. 11;

Fig. 16 is an enlarged detailed view of the shear element;

Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view of Fig. 16; and

Figs. 18 and 19 are diagrammatic views showing various positions of the conveyor when in operation beneath the depositor.

The apparatus is composed of a conveyor A carried upon a frame B for the purpose of transporting crackers or the like from a magazine C beneath an icing or filling depositor D, and in the case of sandwich making, beneath a second magazine E. Frame B is simply constructed of angles and channels to support this mechanism and the motor M and driving gears G. As illustrated, the apparatus is built as a'multiple unit to process simultaneously five lines of crackers, it being apparent that either one or a multiple of lines can be constructed in a single machine. As the machine is symmetrical, only the individual parts of a single line are described in detail.

The conveyor The top of frame B is composed of two longitudinally extending spaced channels 2. Four bearings 4 are mounted on channels 2 adjacent the corners of frame B, these bearings supporting shafts 6 upon which are mounted cog wheels 8, four in number, which in turn support parallel endless chains 10. Rods I2 extend transversely between chains I0, these rods carrying pairs of pins I4. The upper reach of chains I is supported by bars I6, Figures 1 and '1, which are joined to frame B and serve to prevent chains I0 from sagging. Adjacent depositor D, Figure 1, is a vertically adjustable supplemental transverse support 20 upon which bars I6 bear.

A pair of angles 22, 24 extend parallel to chains I0, the angles of each pair being spaced to form a pathway for each pair of pins I4. Angles 22, 24 form trackways for supporting articles which are pushed along the trackways by pins I4.

These trackways are adjustable toward or away from each other in order that they may carry articles of different widths. In Figures 2, 4 and 6, one end of angles 22, 24 is supported by a bar 26 mounted upon channels 2, and having a slot 23 longitudinally thereof for receiving the ends of the angles, said angles being movable toward or away from each other in said slot. At the other end of the machine, Figures 2, 3, and '7, all angles 22 are hung from a transverse rod 30, the hangers for the angles being separated by spacers 32, the rod being threaded to receive a nut 34. By inserting spacers 32 of different lengths, the positions of angles 22 can be altered. Rod 30 is supported from channel 2 by standard 35. Similarly, all of angles 24 are hung from transverse rod 38 employing similar spacers 32. Thus as longer spacers are used on each rod, the angles in each pair of angles 22, 24 will be pushed closer together to lessen the gauge of the trackway formed by them, and vice versa. Adjacent to magazines C and E, the vertical flanges of angles 22, 24 are doubled in height, as shown at 40 and 42, respectively, Figures 2 and 5.

Motor M, Figures 1 and 2, is the prime mover for gearing G through belt 50 driving gear 52 fixed to shaft 54. Gear 56, connected to shaft 54, drives in turn gear 58 which turns crankshaft 60. Rod 62 connected to the crankshaft actuates pawl 63 and ratchet 64 on each revolution of crankshaft 60. Shaft 66 turned by ratchet 64 drives gear 68, chain 10 and gear 12 secured to shaft 6, thus imparting intermittent movement to conveyor A.

The magazine Magazines C and E are similar in construction and operation. Each is composed of a base plate 80, Figures 1, 2 and 8, mounted upon channels 2 at an angle of about 30. Extending per pendicularly to base plate is a rack formed of pairs of angles 32, 84 conforming to the pairs of angles 22, 24 of the trackway for conveyor A, and each pair constituting a chute. Cover angles 86, 88, respectively, are attached to angles 02, 84 over the lower portion thereof to complete the chute-like structure. The individual angles 82, 84 are supported upon bars and 92, having slots 93, Figures 6 and 8, said angles having lugs slidable in the slots so that the angles are adjustable to make chutes of different sizes. Rods 94 secure bars 90 to base plate 80, while rods 96 mounted upon channels 2 sustain bars 92.

Base plate 80 carries an ejector plate I00 slidable thereon. The lower ends of the chutes are spaced the thickness of one of the articles above plate 80, the ejector 100 being slidable beneath all the chutes to push the lowermost articles from the row of chutes onto the conveyor.

Ejector I00 is actuated by arm Hi2 pivotally secured to lug I04 attached to ejector plate I00. Lever I06 connects arm I02 with rod I08, the latter being joined to crankshaft 60. Action of the ejector is thus synchronized with the movement of conveyor A.

The depositor Depositor D includes a pump for extruding filling or icing material onto the articles carried by conveyor A, and a device for cutting off lengths of the material as it is extruded by the pump.

The pump comprises a hopper I20 containing an agitating mechanism I22, and a gear box I24, said box being supported upon channels 2 by standards I26, and being tilted to bring its extruding orifice as close as possible to articles carried by conveyor A.

Mounted within gear box I24 are pairs of gears I30, I32, I34, I36, I38, forming, respectively, five gear pumps, one for each of the trackways on conveyor A. These gears are fixed to drive shaft I40, and extrude material through orifices I42, Figures 11 and 15. Because of the sticky, plastic nature of the materials usually being pumped, the individual gears, as shown by gear I30a, Figure 14, are made self-cleansing by tapering the bottoms I30b of the tooth cavities outwardly from the median plane of the gear and toward the axis of the gear. This mechanism is fully derod I86 to raise shear elements I10. At this instant, the extruded material has come out of the orifice M2 far enough so that it is resting at one end upon the cracker on conveyor A. The conveyor continues to move the cracker forwardly and then stops. Then shear element I10 raises and slides across orifice I42 separating the material from the orifice. No material is being extruded at this moment as rod I58, which actuates the gear pumps, is in its downward stroke. Shear element I10 having been lifted by the cam immediately returns to its lowermost position, and as horizontal portion I12 slides across the lower edge of gear box I24, the material being extruded is rubbed off of the wire.

Upward movement of the shear actuating arm I86 also opens air valve 200 so that just before the shear element has moved across the face of orifice 142, a blast of air impinges on the material and presses it upon the cracker, and assists in freeing the material from the shear element. Shear element I'H] is by itself a very cleanly operating mechanism for cutting off the extruded material. It can handle the stickiest of materials by itself, and is even more efficient when used in combination with the air blast,

The cycle is continued with the crackers arriving at magazine E in timed sequence so that as each cracker passes beneath this magazine, a cover cracker is placed on the previously coated cracker on the conveyor to form a sandwich. As described for magazine the coated cracker is being moved as the top cracker is placed on it from magazine E. This movement permits the top cracker to come to rest on the coating without displacing the coating from the lower cracker, as would be the case if the conveyor A were stopped. The completed sandwich is removed from the machine at the left side of Fig. 1.

When the size of the cakes or crackers to be coated has been selected, magazines C and E first must be adjusted to the proper size, such adjustment being made by moving angles 82 in slots 93. Then angles 22 and 24 must be adjusted to the same size, this being done by varying the size of spacers 32 on rods 38 and 38, the opposite ends of angles 22 and 24 being properly located in the slot in bar 26.

Filling material is placed in hopper D, this material being kept in contact with the gear pumps by actuator I22.

The intermittent operation of the conveyor A in timed relation with the turning of the gear pumps makes it possible to eliminate the use of stencils, such as are employed in the prior art machines, thus not only simplifying the apparatus, but permitting the apparatus to operate at a higher speed. Although the so-called speed of the machine may be high in comparison with prior art machines, yet cracker breakage, and spoilage due to misalignment of filling material on the cracker, is avoided because actually the parts of the machine move relatively slowly with respect to each other as the crackers are being handled. Consequently, a slowing of the movement of the relative. parts permits an overall increase in speed for the machine, and a greater output therefor.

Having now described the means by which the objects of my invention are obtained, I claim:

1. In a sandwich machine for coating fragile articles such as crackers, cookies, or cakes with sticky coating material, said machine including an article holding magazine, a movable article ejecting plate in said magazine, a depositor, a coating extruding mechanism in said depositor, a power driven conveyor movable beneath both said depositor and magazine, apower driven drive shaft, means for power actuating said ejecting plate from said drive shaft, means for power operating said extruding mechanism from said drive shaft, and means for power operating said conveyor from said drive shaft, the improvement comprising a first eccentric element driven by said shaft and connecting said conveyor operating means to said shaft for intermittently moving said conveyor, a second eccentric element driven by said shaft in offset relation to said first element and connecting said shaft to said means for actuating said article ejecting plate for actuating said plate to deposit an article on said conveyor only when said conveyor is moving, and a third eccentric element driven by said shaft in offset relation to said first and second elements and connecting said shaft with said means for operating said coating extruding mechanism to operate said mechanism initially only as said conveyor is movin and finally as said conveyor is stationary, said eccentrics being so shaped and offset with respect to each other as to complete the depositing of an article from said magazine onto said conveyor and. to coat an article beneath said depositor during one complete cycle of the intermittent operation of said conveyor.

2. In a sandwich machine as in claim 1, said drive shaft comprising a crankshaft, and said eccentrics comprising cranks on said shaft.

3. A shear element for a material depositor having an extruding orifice in one face thereof, an edge of said face being below said orifice, comprising a horizontal wire, leg means for holding said wire in lower position beneath saidedge of said depositor, means for raising said wire while being held by said leg means spring-pressed against the face of said depositor and across said orifice during the material shearing stroke and for returning said wire to said lower position, and means for producing a downwardly directed air blast on said wire during the upward stroke of said wire.

4. A shear element as in claim 3, said air blast means comprising a nozzle mounted adjacent said orifice, and means for supplying air intermittently to said nozzle.

HARVEY P. CURLEE.

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